Technological and Material Characterization of Lapidary Artifacts from Tamtoc Archaeological Site, Mexico
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Technological and Material Characterization of Lapidary Artifacts from Tamtoc Archaeological Site, Mexico Emiliano Melgar1, Reyna Solís1, José Luis Ruvalcaba2 1 Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, INAH. Seminario No. 8, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF 06060, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected] 2 Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. Apdo. Postal 20-364, Mexico DF 01000, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Tamtoc is a very important archaeological site in San Luis Potosi, in the Central region of Mexico. The pre-Hispanic Huastec culture developed in this site (900-1100 A.D.). During the archaeological excavations, a large amount of lithic artifacts were recovered from burials and offerings. Among them, pieces of semitransparent crystalline objects of color blue, green, yellow and white and green stone pieces were discovered in one of the most important ceremonial precinct, inside a water reservoir of the monument 32 “The Priestess”. The aim of this work is to measure the composition of the artifacts for provenance study and to establish the manufacturing technique and tools used to produce them. For material analysis, a combined analysis involving X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy was applied. The main elements as well as some traces can be measured by XRF while the mineral identification can be established by Raman. The results indicate that most of the pieces are calcite with traces of rare elements. On the other hand, experimental archaeology using a well established methodology of optical and electron microscopy examination of the manufacturing traces was applied. From this technological study the specific use of tools and materials were established for this site. INTRODUCTION During the archaeological excavations at Tamtoc, an archaeological site of the Huastec people (900-1100 A.D.) in San Luis Potosi, northern México, hundreds of polished stones were recovered in offerings and burials. Among them, the context with the highest number of pieces is the spring water associated with the famous Monument 32 known as “The Priestess” (Figure 1). There, a huge amount of translucent beads and pendants of four colors (blue, green, yellow and white) were deposited inside the water as an offering representing the “petrified waters” for rituals of fertility (Figure 2). Also, in this context there are evidences of their production, like unfinished pieces and fragments without any modification of these raw materials. In contrast, all the burials have dark green objects employed as prestige goods to emphasize their power and status (Figure 3). It is interesting that we do not have any evidences of production of these pieces. Because of that, the aim of this work is to measure the composition of these artifacts to determine their provenance and to establish the manufacturing technique and tools used to produce them. For material analysis, a combined analysis involving X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy was applied. For the technolo
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